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What is the Soft Touch in 6 Dragons Kung Fu?

The Soft Touch is the capability to instinctively regulate the type of “state” of our body structure (solid, liquid, etc., read 6DKF’s interactions: from the strong blow to the light touch) and the intensity of the contact with an element of the fighting scenario. It could be with:

The arm of the opponent
A falling knife
An obstacle behind us
The flexible part of a weapon
The ground during a falling (read Everything you should know about breakfalls)
…

When a practitioner gains this skill, he becomes able to do things like:

Manage the contact with otherwise very dangerous objects to handle (eg. sharpen objects)
Preserve the integrity of delicate elements of the scenario (eg. a body limb, a glass, etc.)
Distribute weight and resistance during an impact (it is a full body capability)
Reduce the incidence of the opponents’ blows (eg. accompanying it)
Cancel the damage of accidentally self-inflicted blows (eg. as a result of errors in manipulating a martial weapon)
Catch a small flying piece of paper
…

This attitude can be mastered at different levels and even the beginners should rapidly start to become familiar with it.

A note by Master Kongling – We have not invented anything, indirectly, similar kind of mechanics are present in many other good quality martial arts (Jiu-Jitsu, Tai Chi, Systema, etc.): in 6DKF we are only trying to deepen its application (and the result that I can see with our students is that it really takes their quality of preparation it to the next level, I am so proud of you all).

How to acquire the Soft Touch skill

The first thing to know is that the Soft Touch is a commingling of:

Flow management
Spatial intelligence (read The most important skill in combat)
Timing
Instinctive state change (read Liquid, Fluid and Solid: an exchange sample)
Balance
Reflexes
Quick reasoning
Tactile sensitivity (without an instantaneous and precise perception all the rest is useless)
…

Now that we have understood what are the compositive parts of the Soft Touch, let’s see, practically, how to build this skill.

The truth is that almost every exercise helps but if we have to choose the most effective practices we cannot mention (in order of study):

The fabric cloth exercise (read Basic tools: the cloth)
The hanging speedballs exercise (read Basic tools: the Hanging Speedball)
The pencil dexterity exercise (read A pencil dexterity exercise for the use of knife)
The ring manipulations (read The exercise with the plastic or rattan ring)
The dynamic water bottle (read Advanced exercises: the dynamic water bottle)
Focused sparring(read Sparring type 1: slow motion fighting)
…

A note by Master Kongling – It is not possible to assess precisely the necessary time but for the first basic results, we should work for about 2 years (this is what I generically see). After that, even not focusing our workout solely on the Soft Touch development, the improvement is almost automatic (when the body is calibrated, the conditioning is mostly mental and passive).

In the future, we will add more exercises but for now, this is more than enough: the quality of the result is in our hands (concentration, preparation, discipline).

In-depth articles

The 6DKF’s Solid Contacts – Solid contacts, what are and how they work
The 6DKF’s Liquid and Fluid Contacts – Fluid and liquid contacts, what are and how they work

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Is the definition of Sof Touch skill clear enough?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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